Chorus and Orchestra of the Bolshoi Theatre, Moscow conducted by Alexander
Vedernikov Chorus master: Valery Borisov Conductor: Igor Dronov Voice coach: Franco Pagliazzi Concertmaster: Dmitry Khakhamov Glass harmonica: Igor Sklyarov & Timofei Vinkovsky Flute: Sergei Balashov Oboe: Sofia Belyaeva English horn: Vladislav Komissarchuk Clarinet: Alexei Bogorad Recorded live at the Bolshoi Theatre Moscow, April 23rd –27th
, 2003
IN
SEARCH OF LOST MANUSCRIPTS
It is generally acknowledged that the original score of Ruslan and Lyudmila – the
one which was penned by Mikhail Glinka himself – disappeared in the fire
which ravaged the Circus Theatre of St. Petersburg during a winter’s
night in 1859. Our research got off to quite a banal start, on a journey along
the banks of the river Neva undertaken with the intention of comparing the
manuscript of the opera kept at the music library on the Architect Rossi street,
with the version edited in 1966, which is reputed to be the most accurate of
all. At the outset, there was nothing to hint that this purely technical mission
would acquire the allure of an exciting adventure with all the ingredients
of a thriller novel.
From the start, our work was divided into various directions at once: expertise
in handwriting, comparisons of accounts and publications of the day, specification
of the order in which the manuscripts were filed in the library of the Imperial
Theatre, and the search for documents in the archives likely to provide the
necessary explanations.
While studying the circumstances of the 1859 fire, it wasn’t long before
we came across major contradictions between various accounts from the same
people. Thus, in the preface which she edited for the 1878 edition of the opera,
Lyudmila Ivanovna Chestakova (the musician’s sister) wrote the following: « The
only reliable score – the one which belonged to the management of the
Imperial Theatre and which was used for the first production of Ruslan and
Lyudmila 1 under the baton of the composer himself – was incinerated
during the fire which raged at the Circus Theatre. » Whereas less than
two years later in her memoirs, which were published in 1880, she mentions
a different fire. Better yet, a fire which took place in a different city. « In
1853, » she tells us, « the fire devoured the Bolshoi Theatre in
Moscow and, at the same time, the scores of Ruslan and A Life for the Czar.
As a consequence, there is just a single copy left of each of these operas: the
two copies which are filed at the Imperial Theatre in St. Petersburg.2 »
The only account which gets us anywhere near the truth is the one given by Vassily
Pavlovich Engelhart, a loyal friend of Glinka. Besides being an ardent admirer
and expert connoisseur of his music, he was also – of essential importance
for us – a fanatic collector of his manuscripts. In his letter of February
25, 1859, addressed to the writer Nestor Vassilievich Koukolnik (also a very
close friend of the composer), Vassily Engelhart depicts the fire at the Circus
Theatre with so much irony that it is clear evident that, had the manuscripts
truly disappeared in the flames, a collector such as he would not have permitted
himself such a mocking tone. This is what he wrote: « One night, the attic
in the Theatre caught fire right above the prompt box. At that moment, the caretaker
was at the Grand Theatre Kamenny, watching the masked ball which was taking place
there. As for Saburov3, he stayed out all night and couldn’t be found until
9 o’clock the following morning. Being the first to arrive on the scene,
the Sovereign4 noted that all employees responsible for the administration of
the theatre were absent. The fire had destroyed everything: the interior, the
scenery, the costumes, the scores of 20 or so operas, the instruments, etc. The
French horns had been transformed into cymbals and the cymbals into trombones...
Only the cash register, the refreshment rooms and the toilets remained miraculously
intact, and we should give thanks to the Lord for this! »
As required by the management of the Imperial Theatre, two copies were drawn
up of the scores of each opera. The first one – the original manuscript,
or a copy of this made by the composer – was kept at the music library
located on the Architect Rossi street; and the second one – drawn up by
a professional copyist – was kept on file in the Theatre. We quickly realized
that the score on file at the library in the Rossi street corresponded to the
first type of manuscript, and was in fact the copy made by Mikhail Glinka himself.
This was actually the score used for the first production of the opera on November
27, 1842, at the Grand Theatre Kamenny in St. Petersburg.
But where was the original manuscript? As he didn’t have time before the
première to himself copy the immense orchestral score of his work, the
composer called on the help of a group of at least five professional copyists.
This unexpected conclusion might have been considered a debatable hypothesis,
had it not been confirmed by an extremely important document, entitled « Dossier
of the procedure instituted by the 2nd bureau of the Department for Civil Affairs
at the Ministry of Justice ». Filed at the National Historical Archives
in St. Petersburg, this dossier consists of the plea for justice lodged by editor
Feodor Timofeyevich Stellovsky against Lyudmila Ivanovna Chestakova. May we emphasize,
by the way, that the matter in question took up a period of 15 years. On September
19, 1869, the date on which the plaintiff imperatively demanded the return of
the original score of the opera, which he had acquired in accordance with the
contract signed on September 17, 1861, Mr. Stassov, the defendant’s lawyer
pulled out his last trump: « It is a known fact that the authentic original
score of Ruslan and Lyudmila does not exist. »
Nevertheless, the artistic value of works of art and architecture, of poems,
novels, plays and compositions is not diminished by the fact that the great masters
left the technical work to their pupils. The same thing goes for the compositions
of Mikhail Glinka. And if, creatively speaking, the composer of the famous Knight’s
Romance may be likened to a noble knight, it would be unjust to forget his faithful
equerries. They were the serf musician Yakov Oulianovich Netoyev, a good cellist,
an excellent singer, servant in the service of the Glinka family, majordomo and
secretary of the composer, conductor Josef Hermann, the driving force behind
the highly popular musical soirées organized in the summer in the Pavlovsk
park, Johann Martin Westfahl, violinist, oboe-player and professional copyist,
renowned for his admirable handwriting, Fedor Alexandrovich Rahl, conductor of
an orchestra for wind instruments, Constantin Petrovich Vilboa, composer and
collector of folk songs, and Vladimir Nikitich Kashperov, composer and singer,
who befriended Mikhail Glinka in Berlin during the last six months of the great
musician’s life. While working on the orchestration with Vladimir Kashperov,
the composer of Ruslan and Lyudmila recommended that he study polyphony with
Siegfried Wilhelm Dehn, a music theoretician from Berlin. Kashperov was the one
who accompanied Glinka to his final resting place and who must have helped Siegfried
Dehn to catalogue the numerous scores brought to Berlin by the genius of Russian
music.
These Berlin scores constituted the culmination of our research. Transcribed
without haste, in beautiful handwriting, and ordered according to the indications
of the composer in 1854 or 1855, the score of Ruslan and Lyudmila lay before
us in all its glory...
This gem includes a dazzling ensemble of three handwritten copies of the opera,
which were made in Glinka’s lifetime. One of them, dating from 1855, was
discovered in the Bolshoi archives; the two others, in the storerooms of the
music library at the Moscow Conservatoire where they had been kept since the
middle of the 1860’s.
It might occur to someone who is not an expert in the field of vocal art to question
the point of having so many handwritten scores which are more or less similar.
On the one hand, these documents complement one another, and they shed more light
on the way in which a work was conceived by its composer. On the other, they
constitute the framework which allows orchestral and choir conductors, producers
and singers to create different versions of the production.
ALEXANDER
VEDERNIKOV
Alexander Vedernikov is one of the most promising Russian conductors of the
young generation.
He studied at the Moscow Conservatory and in 1988 joined the Stanislavsky Theatre
Moscow where he conducted many opera’s with great success.
In the 2001/2002 season he became Chief Conductor and Music Director of the
Bolshoi Theatre Moscow.
Alexander Vedernikov conducted the St. Petersburg Philharmonic, the Russian
State Symphony Orchestra and is a regular guest with the Russian National Orchestra.
He gave many concerts with the Moscow Radio Symphony Orchestra in Russia and
toured with them in Germany, Austria and the UK.
He also conducted at opera houses such as the Metropolitan New York, the Royal
Opera House Covent Garden, the Semper Opera Dresden and La Scala.
Alexander Vedernikov worked as guest conductor with many orchestras like The
Philharmonia Orchestra, the London Philharmonic, the Budapest Festival Orchestra
and the Montreal Symphony.
RUSSIAN
NATIONAL ORCHESTRA
Ever since its 1990 Moscow debut, the Russian National Orchestra has been in
demand throughout the music world. The first Russian orchestra to perform at
the Vatican and in Israel, the RNO maintains an active schedule of touring
to North America, Asia and Europe. It is a frequent guest at major festivals
including Edinburgh, Lucerne, Sydney and Colmar, and opened the 1996 Olympics
Arts Festival in Atlanta. Of the orchestra’s debut at the BBC Proms in
London (1996), the Evening Standard wrote, “They played with such captivating
beauty that the audience gave an involuntary sigh of pleasure.”
Gramophone, Britain’s premier classical periodical, listed the first
RNO CD, released in 1991, as the best recording of Tchaikovsky’s Pathétique
in history, calling it “an awe inspiring experience; should human beings
be able to play like this?” An extensive discography recorded for Deutsche
Grammophon and PentaTone Classics, with conductors that include Mikhail Pletnev,
Mstislav Rostropovich, Kent Nagano and Alexander Vedernikov, has garnered more
praise. Classic CD described the RNO’s recording of the Rachmaninov Second
Symphony as “breathtakingly beautiful…this has no, and may never
have, any serious rivals,” and Gramophone declared its CD of Prokofiev’s
Cinderella “one of the best records of the 1990s.”
Unique among the principal Russian ensembles, the RNO is independent of the
government and has developed its own path-breaking structure. It is perhaps
the only orchestra in the world to establish a Conductor Collegium, a group
of internationally renowned conductors who have developed a special rapport
with the RNO and its musicians, and whose vision guides tour and recording
strategies.
Another RNO innovation is Cultural Allies, created in 2001 and encompassing
exchanges between artists in Russia and the West, collaborations with American
and European orchestras, and the commissioning of new works. Prominent RNO
partners in Cultural Allies include Dave Brubeck, Bill Clinton, Mikhail Gorbachev,
Hélène Grimaud, Sophia Loren, Wynton Marsalis, Jessye Norman,
Leonard Slatkin and Michael Tilson Thomas.
The Russian National Orchestra is supported by private funding and is governed
by a distinguished multinational board of trustees. Affiliated organizations
include the Russian Arts and Cultural Foundation-UK, the Russian Arts Foundation
and the American Council of the RNO.
In
the new century, the Bolshoi Theatre has turned to Mikhail Glinka’s opera “Ruslan
and Lyudmila”. This is a deeply symbolic fact and confirms how meaningful
and important his music always is to us.
Glinka is a rather enigmatic figure in the history of Russian music, as it
were appearing out of the blue. The genealogy of his work, as distinct to
that of our other classical composers, is fairly difficult to trace. Operatic
works
written by Russian composers before Glinka exist separately, they did not
generate the nineteenth-century operatic tradition. The question thus arises:
what is
Glinka’s work?
Our present production represents an answer to this question from the twenty-first
century. We had two main points of departure. The first involved approaching
the authorial text with the maximum care, which required painstaking textological
analysis, research and the study of the original sources. The second point
of departure was related to the production. We tried to avoid excessive preoccupation
with everyday themes, psychological approaches, a detailed elaboration of the
characters of the personages: in other words, the Stanislavsky system which
our theatre so adores. One could call this the rejection of entertainment simply
for the sake of entertainment.
The format we chose answers more precisely to Glinka’s method, according
to which the music comes first, and behind it trails the action. Let us put
it this way – the logic of the development is exclusively musical.
The exposition of the material is built on an epic rather than a dramatic
basis,
which brings us close to such ancient theatrical genres such as the tragedy
and mystery. Therefore, it followed that the chorus, like its ancient Greek
counterpart, should take upon itself the role of commentator of events only
and not become a personage in the opera. In our production, the personages
are the soloists and, of course, the orchestra, which here has a particular,
dominant role, in which over 40 minutes of music fall to its lot.
I would like to emphasize that our work is also an homage to Glinka’s
jubilee in 2004.
Alexander Vedernikov
Conductor
Taras
Shtonda
Taras Shtonda holds the title of Merited Artist of the Ukraine. He was born
in Kiev, and after studying with Galina Sukhorukova, graduated from the Kiev
Tchaikovsky Conservatoire in 1993. Between 1991 and 2001, he won prizes at
the following international competitions: the Glinka Competition in Alma-Ata,
Julian Gayarre International Singing Competition in Pamplona, Francisco Viñas
Singing Competition in Barcelona, Maria Callas International Music Competition
in Athens, Patorzhinsky Competition in Lugansk, Alchevsky Competition in Kharkov,
Byul-Byul Competition in Baku, and the Sviridov Competition in Lursk; as well
as at the Sobinov Festival in Saratov.
As of 1992, Taras Shtonda has been a soloist of the National Opera of the Ukraine.
His repertoire includes the following roles: Philip II, the Grand Inquisitor
(“Don Carlos”), Zaccaria (“Nabucco”), Monterone (“Rigoletto”),
Basilio (“Il barbiere di Siviglia”), Boris, Pimen (“Boris
Godunov”), Dosifei (“Khovantschina”), Gremin (“Eugen
Onegin”), Kochubei (“Mazepa”), King Rene (“Iolanthe”),
Vladimir Galitsky (“Prince Igor”), Boris Timofeyevich (“Katerina
Izmailova”), the Magician Celio (“Love of Three Oranges”).
Apart from his performances in the opera repertoire, Taras Shtonda gives many
recitals and concerts in the cantata-oratorio and the chamber-music fields.
He also performs both classical and modern Ukrainian music. He has toured widely
outside of his native country, and has sung in France, Spain, Hungary, Switzerland,
Holland, Denmark, Brazil, Yugoslavia, Italy, Poland and Germany, as well as
in Russia and the Ukraine. At the Bolshoi, he has sung the role of Dosifei
(“Khovantschina”).
Ekaterina
Morozova
Ekaterina Morozova was born in Ekaterinburg, where she graduated from the Ekaterinburg
Music College both as pianist and as chorus conductor. She studied singing
with professor V. Gurevich, and later graduated from the Moscow State Conservatoire
in the class of professor Y. Grigorev.
From 1996 – 2000, she was a soloist with the Moscow New Opera Theatre.
In 2000, she made her Bolshoi Theatre début as Violetta in “La
traviata”.
Since 1999, Ekaterina Morozova has also performed abroad. She sang the role
of Natasha Rostova in Prokofiev’s “War and Peace” at the
Spoleto Festival; Oksana in Tchaikovsky’s “Cherevichki” in
Italy; Clorinda in “Cinderella” at the Rossini Opera Festival;
and the title role in Donizetti’s “Lucrezia Borgia” at the
Teatro Comunale in Bologna.
One of the best roles in her repertoire is the Queen of the Night from Mozart’s “Die
Zauberflöte”, which she has sung at the Salzburg Landestheater,
Deutsche Oper Berlin, Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe, Deutsche Oper am Rhein,
Semperoper Dresden, with the Orchestra della Toscana, at the Schwetzingen Festival
and for the Opéra National du Rhin.
In 2001, she was an award-winner at the Dresden Opera Competition, and in the
same year, she sang Gilda (“Rigoletto”) at the Savonilinsky Festival.
At the Wexford Festival, she sang Leonora in von Flotow’s “Alessandro
Stradella”. For the Canadian Opera Company, she sang Madame Faulville
in Rossini’s “Il viaggio a Reims”; for the Paris Opera, Kseniya
in “Boris Godunov”; and for Kazan Opera, Rosina in “Il barbiere
di Siviglia”.
Her repertoire also includes the following roles: Lucia (“Lucia di Lammermoor”);
Valter (“Valli” by A. Katalan); Lyudmila (“Ruslan and Lyudmila”);
Donna Anna (“Don Giovanni”); Dido (“Dido and Aeneas”);
Iolanthe (“Iolanthe”); Lucretia
(“I due foscari”); Violetta (“La traviata”).
Vadim
Lynkovsky was born in Moscow into a family of music teachers. In 1992, he graduated
from the wind instruments’ class at the Moscow A. Shnitke Music College.
Four years later, in 1996, he graduated from the vocal department of the Moscow
A. Schnittke State Institute of Music. In 1998, he continued his education
at the Moscow State Conservatoire with Pyotr Skusnichenko.
In 1997, he received the first prize in the All-Russian Bella Voce Competition,
and in 1999, he again won first prize at the 18th Glinka International Competition
of Vocalists.
From 1998 – 1999, he was a soloist with the Boris Pokrovsky Chamber Music
Theatre. In 2001, he joined the Bolshoi Theatre Opera Company, where his roles
have included: Director of the Casino (“The Gambler”); the Mayor
(“La forza del destino”); Quinault (“Adriana Lecouvreur”);
Varsonofiev (“Khovantschina”); Angelotti (“Tosca”);
Colline (“La Bohème”); Nikitich (“Boris Godunov”);
Bermyata (“Snow Maiden”); and Nick Shadow (“The Rake’s
Progress”).
Aleksandra
Durseneva was born in Kharkov, where she graduated from the Kharkov State Pedagogical
Institute and from the vocal section of the Kharkov Institute of Arts (in the
class of Tamara Veske). She began her professional career at the Kharkov State
Academic Theatre of Opera and Ballet, where she sang the lead roles. She has
also won prizes in several international competitions.
In 1994, Aleksandra Durseneva joined the Bolshoi Theatre Opera Company. Her
repertoire includes: Lyubasha (“The Czar’s Bride”); Amelfa
(“The Golden Cockerel”); Marfa (“Khovantschina”); Vanya
(“Ivan Susanin”); Konchakovna (“Prince Igor”); Clariche
(“Love for the Three Oranges”); and Fyodor Basmanov (“Oprichnik”).
Aleksandra Durseneva tours abroad extensively. In 1999, she made her Royal
Opera début as Amelfa (“The Golden Cockerel”). She has made
frequent appearances at the Bregenz Festival in Austria and has also sung at
the Konzerthaus in Vienna. She has taken part in productions in Dublin, Leipzig,
Iena, Madrid, Copenhagen, Ravenna and Florence.
Vitaly
Panfilov was born in Novgorod in 1969. He graduated from the opera-singing
class at the St. Petersburg Conservatoire in 1999. He sang the part of Vaudemon
in a Conservatoire Music Theatre production of “Iolanta”.
Vitaly Panfilov has often performed with the St. Petersburg Philharmonia, mostly
in the Big Hall of the St. Petersburg Philharmonia, in works such as Mozart’s “Requiem”,
Verdi’s “Requiem”, Shostakovich’s “From Jewish
Folk Poetry” vocal cycle, Bach’s “St. John” Passion,
Handel’s “The Messiah”, Schubert-E. Denisov’s opera “Lazarus”,
and various Schubert Masses.
During the Temirkanov 60th Birthday Concert, he was invited to sing a duet
with Barbara Hendricks. The BBC asked him to take part in a direct radio transmission
from St. Petersburg to London, in which he sang several arias from Russian
operas.
Vitaly Panfilov tours in Russia and abroad. In October 2002, he was awarded
the diploma and jury prize of the international music competition held in Poitiers
in France.
Maria
Gavrilova has been awarded the honorary title of People’s Artist of Russia.
She was born in Chelyabinsk, and graduated from the class of German Gavrilov
(her father) at the Chelyabinsk Music College. She continued her studies at
the Moscow State Conservatoire, where she graduated from the class of professor
I. Maslennikova.
In 1990, while still a student, Maria Gavrilova joined the opera cast of the
Bolshoi Theatre. She made her début at the Bolshoi as Oksana in “Cherevichki”.
Her repertoire includes the following roles: Tatiana (“Eugen Onegin”);
Margarite (“Faust”); Iolanthe (“Iolanthe”); Agnesse
(“Maid of Orleans”); Voislava (“Mlada”); Contessa (“Le
nozze di Figaro”); Leonora (“Il trovatore”); Lisa (“The
Queen of Spades”); Mimi (“La Bohème”); Francesca da
Rimini (“Francesca da Rimini”); Natalia (“Oprichnik”);
and Olga (“Maid of Pskov”).
Maria Gavrilova tours in the USA, Europe and Japan. She has performed Tatiana
(“Eugen Onegin”) to great critical acclaim at the San Francisco
Opera.
Valery
Gilmanov graduated from the Novosibirsk State Conservatoire after studying
with A.Y. Levitsky. He joined the Novosibirsk State Theatre of Opera and Ballet
as a soloist in 1994, and in 2000, he was invited to become a soloist with
Moscow’s New Opera Company. In 2001, he joined the Bolshoi Theatre as
a soloist.
Valery Gilmanov’s repertoire includes the following roles: Varlaam (“Boris
Godunov”); Ivan Khovansky (“Khovantschina”); Konchak (“Prince
Igor”); Gremin (“Eugen Onegin”); the Miller (“Rusalka”);
Boris Timofeyevich (“Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk”); Ramphis (“Aida”);
Colline, Benoit (“La Bohème”); Abimelech, an old Hebrew
(“Samson et Dalila”); the Ghost of Hamlet’s Father (“Hamlet”);
Loredano (“I due foscari”); and Sparafucile (“Rigoletto”).
Valery Gilmanov has won numerous prestigious prizes, among others: in 1998,
a Philip Morris-Début Prize for the best operatic début of the
1997-98 season; the S.I. Bugayov Fund prize; the Paradise prize (Novosibirsk);
in 2000, the Golden Mask National Theatre prize (for his performance in V.
Kobekin’s opera “Young David”, with the Novosibirsk Theatre
of Opera and Ballet); and he is also the winner of the Siberian Fair Gold Medal.
Valery Gilmanov has toured in Portugal, Spain, Thailand, and Italy. In 2000,
as part of the M. Rostropovich world project, he sang the role of Boris Timofeyevich
in “Lady Macbeth of Mtensk” in Spain, Italy, France, Germany and
the Argentine.
Maksim
Paster graduated as a choral conductor from the class of A. Koshman and A.
Linkov at the Kharkov Music College in 1994. In 1998, he entered the vocal
faculty of the Kharkov Institute of the Arts, studying with professor L. Tsuran
and with D. Gendelman (chamber singing class).
In 2000, he was an award-winner at the 35th Antonin Dvorák Competition
in Karlovy Vary in the Czech Republic, where he won second prize in the opera
and chamber-music sections. Two years later, in 2002, he won first prize in
Kaliningrad at the 5th Ambert Nightingale Chamber Singing Competition; he also
won the Grand Prix in Donetsk, at the 2nd A. Solovyanenko Nightingale Fair
Competition; and also in 2002, he won an award at the 12th Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Competition in Moscow, and at the N. Lysenko Competition in Kiev. That year,
he received a grant after winning the N. Manoylo prize.
Since 2002, Maksim Paster has been a soloist with the Kharkov Lysenko Theatre
of Opera and Ballet. His repertoire includes: Paolino (“Il matrimonio
segreto”); Lucentio (“Taming of the Shrew”); Chekalinsky
(“Queen of Spades”); as well as solo parts in Mozart’s “Requiem” and “Coronation” Mass,
Verdi’s “Requiem”, Weber’s “Requiem”, Schubert’s
Mass in G and Mass in A flat, Rossini’s “Petite messe solennelle” and “Stabat
mater”.
Irina
Dolzhenko holds the title of Merited Artist of Russia. She was born in Tashkent,
and after completing her studies at the Tashkent State Conservatoire, she joined
the Natalia Sats Children’s Music Theatre Company. She took part in Stanislavsky
and Nemirovich-Danchenko Musical Theatre productions. She also studied in Italy
with M. Sigele and Giorgio Luchetti.
Since 1996, Irina Dolzhenko has been a soloist with the Bolshoi Theatre Opera
Company. Her repertoire includes the following roles: Amneris (“Aida”);
Azucena (“Il trovatore”); Ulrica (“Un ballo in maschera”);
Fenena (“Nabucco”); Adalgisa (“Norma”); Cherubino (“Le
nozze di Figaro”); Olga (“Eugen Onegin”); Morozova (“Oprichnik”);
Amelfa (“The Golden Cockerel”); Blanche (“The Gambler”);
La princesse de Bouillon (“Adriana Lecouvreur”); and Preziosilla
(“La forza del destino”).
Irina Dolzhenko also performs regularly outside of Russia. Companies with which
she has sung include: the Vienna Chamber Opera; the Swedish Royal Opera in
Stockholm; the Deutsche Oper Berlin; the Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires; and
the New Israeli Opera in Tel-Aviv. She has performed in Japan, Korea, Australia,
the USA and Europe. Festivals in which she has taken part include the Schoenbrun
festival in Austria, the Savonnlina Festival in Finland, the Mozart Festival
in France, the Jerusalem Festival in Israel, and the Festival of Forgotten
Operas in Wexford in Ireland.
“The
Bolshoi give us Glinka’s colourful score complete in an exiting new
recording.” ---John Warrack, Gramophone (July 2004)
“The recording uses SA-CD surround technology, and to my ears the most
exciting result is not the enhanced spatiality and depth, but the way the recording
captures the theatre’s unique acoustic.” ---Andrew Farach-Colton,Gramophone (July 2004)
“The result? Elegant ballets, perfect rather than impressive voices, involved
choirs: The true pleasure of simple things well done.” ---Le Soir (09-06-2004)
“A marvellous performance, historically informed and caught absolutely
on the wing. How lucky the audience was to be there at the Bolshoi and how lucky
are we now, to enjoy the immediacy of the event…The miracle of the score
lies in the ability to deliver a coherent whole rather than a succession of
“numbers”. Do try to hear this set, even if you own Gergiev- Vedernikov
restores Ruslan, intact and complete to its rightful place.” ---Colin Clarke, www.musicweb
“A special thank to PentaTone for releasing this. I’ve waited a
long time to hear Ruslan and Lyudmilla given proper treatment. The result
is worth the wait.” ---SA-CD.net
“What an absolutely wonderful recording! I love everything about it, the
music, the performances, the sound quality, the acoustics of the venue.” ---Russell Lichter, The Stereo Times
“This recording sets a standard, because in an interprtation like
this one Glinka’s Ruslan and Lyudmilla must be counted amongst the
most important operas of the 19th century.” ---Uwe Schneider, Klassik.com
“
This recording from the opera house captures the exitedment of colorful performances
from a close audience perspective. Voices are up on stage and the orchestra
is in the pit, with a natural balance between them.” ---Kal Rubinstein, Stereophile
“
While there’s no clear winner between the competing versions of Ruslan
and Lyudmila, I prefer this new release. With one exception, its cast is
equal to or significantly better than that on Philips. Vedernikov’s
tempos work better in the long haul, too… PentaTone Classic’s
new release makes a more convincing case for this most ungainly and beautiful
of operas.” ---Barry Brenesal, Fanfare
